Sharing server conversational context between multiple cognitive engines

ABSTRACT

A method, computer system, and computer program product for determining a server conversational state in an interactive dialog between a server and an administrator is provided. The embodiment may include receiving a query statement from a user. The embodiment may also include updating a context map to reflect a context of the received query statement. The embodiment may further include transmitting a request to one or more cognitive engines capable of resolving the received query statement. The embodiment may also include processing the transmitted request in each of the one or more cognitive engines. The embodiment may further include updating the context map with a resolution operation performed by the one or more cognitive engines. The embodiment may also include displaying a response to the user.

BACKGROUND

The present invention relates, generally, to the field of computing, andmore particularly to natural language processing.

Natural language processing may relate to a field within computerscience dealing with the analysis of natural language text by acomputer. Natural language processing may have applications in variouscategories, such as syntax, semantics, discourse, and speech. Variousapplications within the mentioned categories include text-to-speech,discourse analysis, relationship extraction, natural languagegeneration, sentiment analysis, parsing, word segmentation, terminologyextraction, machine translation, and summarization.

SUMMARY

According to one embodiment, a method, computer system, and computerprogram product for determining a server conversational state in aninteractive dialog between a server and an administrator is provided.The embodiment may include receiving a query statement from a user. Theembodiment may also include updating a context map to reflect a contextof the received query statement. The embodiment may further includetransmitting a request to one or more cognitive engines capable ofresolving the received query statement. The embodiment may also includeprocessing the transmitted request in each of the one or more cognitiveengines. The embodiment may further include updating the context mapwith a resolution operation performed by the one or more cognitiveengines. The embodiment may also include displaying a response to theuser.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other objects, features and advantages of the presentinvention will become apparent from the following detailed descriptionof illustrative embodiments thereof, which is to be read in connectionwith the accompanying drawings. The various features of the drawings arenot to scale as the illustrations are for clarity in facilitating oneskilled in the art in understanding the invention in conjunction withthe detailed description. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary networked computer environment accordingto at least one embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a component work flow block diagram according to at least oneembodiment;

FIGS. 3A and 3B are an operational flowchart illustrating a serverconversational context process according to at least one embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of internal and external components ofcomputers and servers depicted in FIG. 1 according to at least oneembodiment;

FIG. 5 depicts a cloud computing environment according to an embodimentof the present invention; and

FIG. 6 depicts abstraction model layers according to an embodiment ofthe present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Detailed embodiments of the claimed structures and methods are disclosedherein; however, it can be understood that the disclosed embodiments aremerely illustrative of the claimed structures and methods that may beembodied in various forms. This invention may, however, be embodied inmany different forms and should not be construed as limited to theexemplary embodiments set forth herein. In the description, details ofwell-known features and techniques may be omitted to avoid unnecessarilyobscuring the presented embodiments.

Embodiments of the present invention relate to the field of computing,and more particularly to natural language processing. The followingdescribed exemplary embodiments provide a system, method, and programproduct to, among other things, allow for server administration byanalyzing natural language inputs in a server administration graphicaluser interface. Therefore, the present embodiment has the capacity toimprove the technical field of natural language processing byintegrating cognitive engines that allow for the efficient understandingof query context.

As previously described, natural language processing may relate to afield within computer science dealing with the analysis of naturallanguage text by a computer. Natural language processing may haveapplications in various categories, such as syntax, semantics,discourse, and speech. Various applications within the mentionedcategories include text-to-speech, discourse analysis, relationshipextraction, natural language generation, sentiment analysis, parsing,word segmentation, terminology extraction, machine translation, andsummarization.

To utilize natural language processing in server administration, asystem may be required to support multiple server administration usercases, such as provisioning, monitoring, operations, optimization,problem resolution, and governance. When natural language is utilized inone or more of the use cases for server administration, context may bemissing based on the wording utilized by a user inputting a querystatement. The use cases can be implemented by multiple systems orcognitive engines which may be co-located or distributed. Sinceinfrastructure management may be an involved task, implementation of theuse cases for a specific platform can be tasked to one or more cognitiveengines. In a conversational context, predicting the flow of aconversation or questions to be posed to an administrator may not bepossible. As such, it may be advantageous to, among other things,implement a server administration system that leverages one or morecognitive engines to analyze a user-entered query statement to provideadequate context to the question or conversational flow for the systemto properly execute the query.

According to one embodiment, based on the question or conversationalflow, the system may require routing a part of the question to acognitive engine that can predict the conversational or question flow.In the embodiment, the cognitive engine may require the context of theconversation that has transpired thus far to correctly address theinstant query. Standing alone, the query may not completely convey thecontext so the system may be required to lookup the cognitive enginecontext to determine precisely the information sought. A cognitiveengine may be an analytics engine capable of providing context to one ormore areas of a user-entered query statement.

Infrastructure interactive management through natural language mayinvolve a back-end that supports multiple categories of infrastructuremanagement use cases. The back-end may be a collection of cognitiveengines that are co-located or distributed geographically. The systemmay be required to understand various contexts surrounding the query,such as the appropriate cognitive engine to route a question,aggregating knowledge from the cognitive engine response and reroutingaccordingly, and assist a cognitive engine to appropriately respond tothe question. Furthermore, various types of context may be maintained,such as infrastructure context, use case categories (e.g., provisioning,monitoring, and problem resolution), entity context (e.g., which server,partition, management console, or adapter is being referred to),operation context (e.g., determining whether a create, deploy, oractivate operation has been previously executed prior to a userencountering an error), and success/error context (e.g., success orerror from an operation as recorded by the management interface).Additionally, a map implementation may hold the context, and be used toshare the context between cognitive engines. In the cognitive engine, acontext resolution module may be implemented that cognitively resolvesand reconstructs the context from the context map.

The in-memory context may be maintained in a JavaScript Object Notation(JSON) format that may be shared across the cognitive engines. The JSONmay also store the context IDs in a database respective to the currentconversation. The context of the conversation may be stored against thecontext IDs in the database as a strong or an entry in natural language.The information from the context ID can be routed to the cognitiveapplication program interfaces (APIs), such as retrieving and ranking tofurther discover the next best possible action or a resolution to aproblem based on the context.

The present invention may be a system, a method, and/or a computerprogram product at any possible technical detail level of integration.The computer program product may include a computer readable storagemedium (or media) having computer readable program instructions thereonfor causing a processor to carry out aspects of the present invention.

The computer readable storage medium can be a tangible device that canretain and store instructions for use by an instruction executiondevice. The computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but isnot limited to, an electronic storage device, a magnetic storage device,an optical storage device, an electromagnetic storage device, asemiconductor storage device, or any suitable combination of theforegoing. A non-exhaustive list of more specific examples of thecomputer readable storage medium includes the following: a portablecomputer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), aread-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROMor Flash memory), a static random access memory (SRAM), a portablecompact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), a digital versatile disk (DVD),a memory stick, a floppy disk, a mechanically encoded device such aspunch-cards or raised structures in a groove having instructionsrecorded thereon, and any suitable combination of the foregoing. Acomputer readable storage medium, as used herein, is not to be construedas being transitory signals per se, such as radio waves or other freelypropagating electromagnetic waves, electromagnetic waves propagatingthrough a waveguide or other transmission media (e.g., light pulsespassing through a fiber-optic cable), or electrical signals transmittedthrough a wire.

Computer readable program instructions described herein can bedownloaded to respective computing/processing devices from a computerreadable storage medium or to an external computer or external storagedevice via a network, for example, the Internet, a local area network, awide area network and/or a wireless network. The network may comprisecopper transmission cables, optical transmission fibers, wirelesstransmission, routers, firewalls, switches, gateway computers and/oredge servers. A network adapter card or network interface in eachcomputing/processing device receives computer readable programinstructions from the network and forwards the computer readable programinstructions for storage in a computer readable storage medium withinthe respective computing/processing device.

Computer readable program instructions for carrying out operations ofthe present invention may be assembler instructions,instruction-set-architecture (ISA) instructions, machine instructions,machine dependent instructions, microcode, firmware instructions,state-setting data, configuration data for integrated circuitry, oreither source code or object code written in any combination of one ormore programming languages, including an object oriented programminglanguage such as Smalltalk, C++, or the like, and procedural programminglanguages, such as the “C” programming language or similar programminglanguages. The computer readable program instructions may executeentirely on the user's computer, partly on the user's computer, as astand-alone software package, partly on the user's computer and partlyon a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer or server. Inthe latter scenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user'scomputer through any type of network, including a local area network(LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to anexternal computer (for example, through the Internet using an InternetService Provider). In some embodiments, electronic circuitry including,for example, programmable logic circuitry, field-programmable gatearrays (FPGA), or programmable logic arrays (PLA) may execute thecomputer readable program instructions by utilizing state information ofthe computer readable program instructions to personalize the electroniccircuitry, in order to perform aspects of the present invention.

Aspects of the present invention are described herein with reference toflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus(systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of theinvention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in theflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented bycomputer readable program instructions.

These computer readable program instructions may be provided to aprocessor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, orother programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, suchthat the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computeror other programmable data processing apparatus, create means forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks. These computer readable program instructionsmay also be stored in a computer readable storage medium that can directa computer, a programmable data processing apparatus, and/or otherdevices to function in a particular manner, such that the computerreadable storage medium having instructions stored therein comprises anarticle of manufacture including instructions which implement aspects ofthe function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram blockor blocks.

The computer readable program instructions may also be loaded onto acomputer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other deviceto cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer,other programmable apparatus or other device to produce a computerimplemented process, such that the instructions which execute on thecomputer, other programmable apparatus, or other device implement thefunctions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block orblocks.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate thearchitecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementationsof systems, methods, and computer program products according to variousembodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in theflowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portionof instructions, which comprises one or more executable instructions forimplementing the specified logical function(s). In some alternativeimplementations, the functions noted in the blocks may occur out of theorder noted in the Figures. For example, two blocks shown in successionmay, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks maysometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon thefunctionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of theblock diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocksin the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can be implementedby special purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specifiedfunctions or acts or carry out combinations of special purpose hardwareand computer instructions.

The following described exemplary embodiments provide a system, method,and program product to utilize one or more cognitive engines to analyzea user-entered query statement directed to one or more user casecategories so adequate context for the query statement may be provided.

Referring to FIG. 1, an exemplary networked computer environment 100 isdepicted, according to at least one embodiment. The networked computerenvironment 100 may include client computing device 102 and a server 112interconnected via a communication network 114. According to at leastone implementation, the networked computer environment 100 may include aplurality of client computing devices 102 and servers 112, of which onlyone of each is shown for illustrative brevity.

The communication network 114 may include various types of communicationnetworks, such as a wide area network (WAN), local area network (LAN), atelecommunication network, a wireless network, a public switched networkand/or a satellite network. The communication network 114 may includeconnections, such as wire, wireless communication links, or fiber opticcables. It may be appreciated that FIG. 1 provides only an illustrationof one implementation and does not imply any limitations with regard tothe environments in which different embodiments may be implemented. Manymodifications to the depicted environments may be made based on designand implementation requirements.

Client computing device 102 may include a processor 104 and a datastorage device 106 that is enabled to host and run a software program108 and a server conversational context program 110A and communicatewith the server 112 via the communication network 114, in accordancewith one embodiment of the invention. Client computing device 102 maybe, for example, a mobile device, a telephone, a personal digitalassistant, a netbook, a laptop computer, a tablet computer, a desktopcomputer, or any type of computing device capable of running a programand accessing a network. As will be discussed with reference to FIG. 4,the client computing device 102 may include internal components 402 aand external components 404 a, respectively.

The server computer 112 may be a laptop computer, netbook computer,personal computer (PC), a desktop computer, or any programmableelectronic device or any network of programmable electronic devicescapable of hosting and running a server conversational context program110B, a cognitive engine 118, and a database 116 and communicating withthe client computing device 102 via the communication network 114, inaccordance with embodiments of the invention. As will be discussed withreference to FIG. 4, the server computer 112 may include internalcomponents 402 b and external components 404 b, respectively. The server112 may also operate in a cloud computing service model, such asSoftware as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), orInfrastructure as a Service (IaaS). The server 112 may also be locatedin a cloud computing deployment model, such as a private cloud,community cloud, public cloud, or hybrid cloud.

The cognitive engine 118 may be an analytics engine capable of providingcontext to one or more areas of a user-entered query statement. Thecognitive engine 118 is explained in further detail in FIG. 2.

According to the present embodiment, the server conversational contextprogram 110A, 110B may be a program capable of analyzing a user-enteredquery statement and leveraging one or more cognitive engines 118 todetermine a context for the query statement to allow for properexecution of a server administration task. The collaborative momentmethod is explained in further detail below with respect to FIGS. 3A-3B.

FIG. 2 is a component work flow block diagram 200 according to at leastone embodiment. The work flow block diagram 200 depicts a chat interface202 which is capable of interacting with a request and response parser204. The chat interface 202 may be a communication program, such assoftware program 108, capable of sending and receiving messages from asender to a recipient. The chat interface 202 may allow a user to enterin a natural language query statement for submission to the request andresponse parser 204. For example, a user may enter a natural languagequery statement requesting the name of each server connected to amanagement console system. In at least one embodiment, the chatinterface 202 may be launched through management interface 222.

The request and response parser 204 may be capable of analyzing theuser-entered query statement for relevant contextual information. Therequest and response parser 204 may include a context resolver 206, arequest propagator 208, and an aggregator analyzer 210. The contextresolver 206 may be a program capable of analyzing previous user-enteredquery statements and identifying specific actions taken by the userafter the query statement was responded to. For example, the contextresolver 206 may analyze a query statement asking for information abouta management console system and determine, when the system is at aspecific performance level, the user increases space on the system toallow for increased performance. Taking the determined context from thecontext resolver 206, the request propagator 208 may be a capable ofpropagating specific requests to an appropriate cognitive engine 118responsible for one or more relevant areas, such as cognitive engine A214, cognitive engine B 216, and cognitive engine C 218. The aggregatoranalyzer 210 may be a program capable of analyzing the responses fromeach cognitive engine to which a request was transmitted by the requestpropagator 208 and compiling each response to an aggregated response forpresentation to the user.

The application programming interface (API) 212 is a softwaredevelopment tool that includes subroutine definitions and protocolsutilized by developers when building a software application. API 212 maybe a service, such as IBM Watson® (Watson and all Watson-basedtrademarks and logos are trademarks or registered trademarks ofInternational Business Machines Corporation and/or its affiliates). API212 may include multiple APIs 212 capable of tuning or training the oneor more cognitive engines 118.

As previously described, the cognitive engine 118 may be an analyticsengine capable of providing context to one or more areas of auser-entered query statement. Cognitive engine 118 may include one ormore cognitive engines, such as cognitive engine A 214, cognitive engineB 216, and cognitive engine C 218, which each may be capable ofidentifying contextual information specific to different areas. Eachcognitive engine 214-218 may include a context resolver 206.

The context resolver 206 may be a program capable of receiving a requestfrom the request propagator 208 within the request and response parser204 via API 212, analyzing the request, determining a response, andreturning the response to the request and response parser 204 forprocessing by the aggregator analyzer 210. The context resolver 206 mayutilize a context propagator 218 and a response generator 220 tointernally search the received request from the request and responseparser 204 and transmit a response to the received request back to therequest and response parser 204, respectively.

The management interface 222 may be a known software program that allowsa user to provide server administration services. Additionally,platforms 224 may be known programs capable of performing the commandsfor server administration as provided by the user.

The database 116 may be a data repository capable of storing contextinformation related to server administration and searchable by thecognitive engine 118 and the server conversational context program 110A,110B.

FIGS. 3A and 3B are an operational flowchart illustrating a serverconversational context process according to at least one embodiment. InFIG. 3A, at 302, the server conversational context program 110A, 110Breceives a query statement from a user. While utilizing the serverconversational context program 110A, 110B, the user may enter a naturallanguage query statement into a graphical user interface associated withthe chat interface 202. For example, the user may enter the text“Provision a virtual machine” into a text dialog box in the chatinterface 202 when the user wishes to set up an application using thevirtual machine. Additionally, as previously described, the chatinterface 202 may be launched through the management interface 222.

Then, at 304, the server conversational context program 110A, 110Binitiates all context engines applicable the received query statement.Since the server conversational context program 110A, 110B is capable ofconnecting to one or more cognitive engines 118, the serverconversational context program 110A, 110B may determine which cognitiveengines 118 are capable of processing to the user-entered querystatement and initiate all applicable cognitive engines 118. Forexample, if three cognitive engine A 214, cognitive engine B 216, andcognitive engine C 218 are capable of handling provisioning, monitoring,and operations, respectively, then the server conversational contextprogram 110A, 110B may only initiate cognitive engine A 214 when thereceived user query statement is “Provision a virtual machine”.Additionally, the server conversational context program 110A, 110B maystore information relating to areas of specialization for each cognitiveengine 118 in a data repository, such as database 116. In at least oneembodiment, the server conversational context program 110A, 110B may becapable of determining the appropriate context area to which theuser-entered query statement relates based on a natural languageanalysis of the text within the query statement. For example, a naturallanguage analysis of the query statement “Provision a virtual machine”may determine the query statement relates to provisioning.

Next, at 306, the server conversational context program 110A, 110Bpresents context resolving questions to the user. If the query statementrequires clarifying information, the server conversational contextprogram 110A, 110B may present context resolving questions to the userto clarify any present ambiguities that may impede the serverconversational context program 110A, 110B from transmitting the requestto or identifying the appropriate cognitive engine 118. For example, ifthe user-entered query statement is “I intend to run a server”, theserver conversational context program 110A, 110B may present follow upquestions, such as “Do you want to provision a virtual machine?” or “Doyou want to provision an application server?”, to the user through thegraphical user interface of the chat interface 202 to resolve anycontext ambiguities that may be present after a natural languageanalysis of the user-entered query statement.

Then, at 308, the server conversational context program 110A, 110Bupdates a context map to reflect the context of the query statement. Aspreviously described, various types of concepts may be maintained by theserver conversational context program 110A, 110B. Each context may bestored within a map implementation, or context map, shared between thecognitive engines 118 and maintained in a JSON format. Once the serverconversational context program 110A, 110B identifies the context orcontexts associated with the user-entered query statement, the serverconversational context program 110A, 110B may update the context map toreflect the identified context or contexts.

Next, at 310, the server conversational context program 110A, 110Btransmits a request to a cognitive engine. Once the contextualinformation is created in the context map and is available as a requestas an extensible markup language (XML) file, the server conversationalcontext program 110A, 110B may transmit the request to an appropriatecognitive engine 118 for resolution. In at least one embodiment, theserver conversational context program 110A, 110B may generate a call tobe routed through one or more APIs 212, such as IBM Watson® NationalLanguage Classification API, IBM Watson® Language API, and IBM Watson®Retrieve and Rank API. For example, in the previously described example,API 212 may transmit a request received from the request and responseparser 204 to cognitive engine A 214 that is related to provisioning asystem. Additionally, when transmitting the request to the cognitiveengine 118, the server conversational context program 110A, 110B mayalso transmit or share access to the context with the cognitive engine118.

Referring now to FIG. 3B, at 312, the server conversational contextprogram 110A, 110B processes the received request using the cognitiveengine 118. When the appropriate cognitive engine 118 receives therequest, the cognitive engine 118 may analyze the request with theaccompanied context to determine the history associated with the requestand then perform the resolution operation needed to satisfy the request.For example, if the user is asking the server conversational contextprogram 110A, 110B to provision a server, the server conversationalcontext program 110A, 110B may determine the user's access level and theuser's location to determine which server should be provisioned and,then, actually perform a provisioning of the appropriate server asdetermined by the cognitive engine 118.

Next, at 314, the server conversational context program 110A, 110Bupdates the context map. Once the server conversational context program110A, 110B has processed the request and performed the resolutionoperation, the server conversational context program 110A, 110B mayupdate the context map with details associated with the resolutionoperation. For example, if the user secured a network and set up astorage network on a server, such as platforms 224 the serverconversational context program 110A, 110B may update the context mapwith the previously taken actions by the user since the latest update tothe context map was made. Additionally, if the server conversationalcontext program 110A, 110B presents any context resolving questions tothe user before performing the resolution operation in step 312, theserver conversational context program 110A, 110B may include the contextresolving questions in the context map as well as the performedresolution operations to provide a complete and accurate contextdepiction in the context map.

Then, at 316, the server conversational context program 110A, 110Broutes a response. Once the server conversational context program 110A,110B has performed the resolution operation and updated the context map,the server conversational context program 110A, 110B may route aresponse from the cognitive engine 118 back to the user through therequest and response parser 204. If the request and response parser 204utilized multiple requests to different cognitive engines 118, such ascognitive engine A 214, cognitive engine B 216, and cognitive engine C218, the server conversational context program 110A, 110B utilizing theaggregator analyzer 210 may aggregate the received responses from thecognitive engines 118 to generate a complete response to the user'squery statement. For example, if when resolving the context of the userquery statement the request and response parser 204 transmitted arequest to cognitive engine A 214 and a separate request to cognitiveengine B 216, the request and response parser 204 may aggregate theindividual responses from cognitive engine A 214 and cognitive engine B216 once both are received to a complete response may be provided to theuser.

Next, at 318, the server conversational context program 110A, 110Bpresents the response to the user. Once the request and response parser204 has received and, if necessary, aggregated the response from the oneor more cognitive engines 118, the response may be presented to the userthrough the chat interface 202. The response may be displayed to theuser through the graphical user interface, and may allow the user toprovide a follow up query statement based on the response. In at leastone embodiment, if the user submits a follow up question related to thereturned response, the server conversational context process 300 mayreturn to step 306 to present context resolving question to the user andcontinue through the method until a response is again presented to theuser.

It may be appreciated that FIGS. 3A-3B provide only an illustration ofone implementation and do not imply any limitations with regard to howdifferent embodiments may be implemented. Many modifications to thedepicted environments may be made based on design and implementationrequirements.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram 400 of internal and external components of theclient computing device 102 and the server 112 depicted in FIG. 1 inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention. It should beappreciated that FIG. 4 provides only an illustration of oneimplementation and does not imply any limitations with regard to theenvironments in which different embodiments may be implemented. Manymodifications to the depicted environments may be made based on designand implementation requirements.

The data processing system 402, 404 is representative of any electronicdevice capable of executing machine-readable program instructions. Thedata processing system 402, 404 may be representative of a smart phone,a computer system, PDA, or other electronic devices. Examples ofcomputing systems, environments, and/or configurations that mayrepresented by the data processing system 402, 404 include, but are notlimited to, personal computer systems, server computer systems, thinclients, thick clients, hand-held or laptop devices, multiprocessorsystems, microprocessor-based systems, network PCs, minicomputersystems, and distributed cloud computing environments that include anyof the above systems or devices.

The client computing device 102 and the server 112 may includerespective sets of internal components 402 a,b and external components404 a,b illustrated in FIG. 4. Each of the sets of internal components402 include one or more processors 420, one or more computer-readableRAMs 422, and one or more computer-readable ROMs 424 on one or morebuses 426, and one or more operating systems 428 and one or morecomputer-readable tangible storage devices 430. The one or moreoperating systems 428, the software program 108 and the serverconversational context program 110A in the client computing device 102and the server conversational context program 110B in the server 112 arestored on one or more of the respective computer-readable tangiblestorage devices 430 for execution by one or more of the respectiveprocessors 420 via one or more of the respective RAMs 422 (whichtypically include cache memory). In the embodiment illustrated in FIG.4, each of the computer-readable tangible storage devices 430 is amagnetic disk storage device of an internal hard drive. Alternatively,each of the computer-readable tangible storage devices 430 is asemiconductor storage device such as ROM 424, EPROM, flash memory or anyother computer-readable tangible storage device that can store acomputer program and digital information.

Each set of internal components 402 a,b also includes a R/W drive orinterface 432 to read from and write to one or more portablecomputer-readable tangible storage devices 438 such as a CD-ROM, DVD,memory stick, magnetic tape, magnetic disk, optical disk orsemiconductor storage device. A software program, such as the serverconversational context program 110A, 110B, can be stored on one or moreof the respective portable computer-readable tangible storage devices438, read via the respective R/W drive or interface 432, and loaded intothe respective hard drive 430.

Each set of internal components 402 a,b also includes network adaptersor interfaces 436 such as a TCP/IP adapter cards, wireless Wi-Fiinterface cards, or 3G or 4G wireless interface cards or other wired orwireless communication links. The software program 108 and the serverconversational context program 110A in the client computing device 102and the server conversational context program 110B in the server 112 canbe downloaded to the client computing device 102 and the server 112 froman external computer via a network (for example, the Internet, a localarea network or other, wide area network) and respective networkadapters or interfaces 436. From the network adapters or interfaces 436,the software program 108 and the server conversational context program110A in the client computing device 102 and the server conversationalcontext program 110B in the server 112 are loaded into the respectivehard drive 430. The network may comprise copper wires, optical fibers,wireless transmission, routers, firewalls, switches, gateway computersand/or edge servers.

Each of the sets of external components 404 a,b can include a computerdisplay monitor 444, a keyboard 442, and a computer mouse 434. Externalcomponents 404 a,b can also include touch screens, virtual keyboards,touch pads, pointing devices, and other human interface devices. Each ofthe sets of internal components 402 a,b also includes device drivers 440to interface to computer display monitor 444, keyboard 442, and computermouse 434. The device drivers 440, R/W drive or interface 432, andnetwork adapter or interface 436 comprise hardware and software (storedin storage device 430 and/or ROM 424).

It is understood in advance that although this disclosure includes adetailed description on cloud computing, implementation of the teachingsrecited herein are not limited to a cloud computing environment. Rather,embodiments of the present invention are capable of being implemented inconjunction with any other type of computing environment now known orlater developed.

Cloud computing is a model of service delivery for enabling convenient,on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computingresources (e.g. networks, network bandwidth, servers, processing,memory, storage, applications, virtual machines, and services) that canbe rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort orinteraction with a provider of the service. This cloud model may includeat least five characteristics, at least three service models, and atleast four deployment models.

Characteristics are as follows:

On-demand self-service: a cloud consumer can unilaterally provisioncomputing capabilities, such as server time and network storage, asneeded automatically without requiring human interaction with theservice's provider.

Broad network access: capabilities are available over a network andaccessed through standard mechanisms that promote use by heterogeneousthin or thick client platforms (e.g., mobile phones, laptops, and PDAs).

Resource pooling: the provider's computing resources are pooled to servemultiple consumers using a multi-tenant model, with different physicaland virtual resources dynamically assigned and reassigned according todemand. There is a sense of location independence in that the consumergenerally has no control or knowledge over the exact location of theprovided resources but may be able to specify location at a higher levelof abstraction (e.g., country, state, or datacenter).

Rapid elasticity: capabilities can be rapidly and elasticallyprovisioned, in some cases automatically, to quickly scale out andrapidly released to quickly scale in. To the consumer, the capabilitiesavailable for provisioning often appear to be unlimited and can bepurchased in any quantity at any time.

Measured service: cloud systems automatically control and optimizeresource use by leveraging a metering capability at some level ofabstraction appropriate to the type of service (e.g., storage,processing, bandwidth, and active user accounts). Resource usage can bemonitored, controlled, and reported providing transparency for both theprovider and consumer of the utilized service.

Service Models are as follows:

Software as a Service (SaaS): the capability provided to the consumer isto use the provider's applications running on a cloud infrastructure.The applications are accessible from various client devices through athin client interface such as a web browser (e.g., web-based e-mail).The consumer does not manage or control the underlying cloudinfrastructure including network, servers, operating systems, storage,or even individual application capabilities, with the possible exceptionof limited user-specific application configuration settings.

Platform as a Service (PaaS): the capability provided to the consumer isto deploy onto the cloud infrastructure consumer-created or acquiredapplications created using programming languages and tools supported bythe provider. The consumer does not manage or control the underlyingcloud infrastructure including networks, servers, operating systems, orstorage, but has control over the deployed applications and possiblyapplication hosting environment configurations.

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS): the capability provided to theconsumer is to provision processing, storage, networks, and otherfundamental computing resources where the consumer is able to deploy andrun arbitrary software, which can include operating systems andapplications. The consumer does not manage or control the underlyingcloud infrastructure but has control over operating systems, storage,deployed applications, and possibly limited control of select networkingcomponents (e.g., host firewalls).

Deployment Models are as follows:

Private cloud: the cloud infrastructure is operated solely for anorganization. It may be managed by the organization or a third party andmay exist on-premises or off-premises.

Community cloud: the cloud infrastructure is shared by severalorganizations and supports a specific community that has shared concerns(e.g., mission, security requirements, policy, and complianceconsiderations). It may be managed by the organizations or a third partyand may exist on-premises or off-premises.

Public cloud: the cloud infrastructure is made available to the generalpublic or a large industry group and is owned by an organization sellingcloud services.

Hybrid cloud: the cloud infrastructure is a composition of two or moreclouds (private, community, or public) that remain unique entities butare bound together by standardized or proprietary technology thatenables data and application portability (e.g., cloud bursting forload-balancing between clouds).

A cloud computing environment is service oriented with a focus onstatelessness, low coupling, modularity, and semantic interoperability.At the heart of cloud computing is an infrastructure comprising anetwork of interconnected nodes.

Referring now to FIG. 5, illustrative cloud computing environment 50 isdepicted. As shown, cloud computing environment 50 comprises one or morecloud computing nodes 100 with which local computing devices used bycloud consumers, such as, for example, personal digital assistant (PDA)or cellular telephone 54A, desktop computer 54B, laptop computer 54C,and/or automobile computer system 54N may communicate. Nodes 100 maycommunicate with one another. They may be grouped (not shown) physicallyor virtually, in one or more networks, such as Private, Community,Public, or Hybrid clouds as described hereinabove, or a combinationthereof. This allows cloud computing environment 50 to offerinfrastructure, platforms and/or software as services for which a cloudconsumer does not need to maintain resources on a local computingdevice. It is understood that the types of computing devices 54A-N shownin FIG. 5 are intended to be illustrative only and that computing nodes100 and cloud computing environment 50 can communicate with any type ofcomputerized device over any type of network and/or network addressableconnection (e.g., using a web browser).

Referring now to FIG. 6, a set of functional abstraction layers 600provided by cloud computing environment 50 is shown. It should beunderstood in advance that the components, layers, and functions shownin FIG. 6 are intended to be illustrative only and embodiments of theinvention are not limited thereto. As depicted, the following layers andcorresponding functions are provided:

Hardware and software layer 60 includes hardware and softwarecomponents. Examples of hardware components include: mainframes 61; RISC(Reduced Instruction Set Computer) architecture based servers 62;servers 63; blade servers 64; storage devices 65; and networks andnetworking components 66. In some embodiments, software componentsinclude network application server software 67 and database software 68.

Virtualization layer 70 provides an abstraction layer from which thefollowing examples of virtual entities may be provided: virtual servers71; virtual storage 72; virtual networks 73, including virtual privatenetworks; virtual applications and operating systems 74; and virtualclients 75.

In one example, management layer 80 may provide the functions describedbelow. Resource provisioning 81 provides dynamic procurement ofcomputing resources and other resources that are utilized to performtasks within the cloud computing environment. Metering and Pricing 82provide cost tracking as resources are utilized within the cloudcomputing environment, and billing or invoicing for consumption of theseresources. In one example, these resources may comprise applicationsoftware licenses. Security provides identity verification for cloudconsumers and tasks, as well as protection for data and other resources.User portal 83 provides access to the cloud computing environment forconsumers and system administrators. Service level management 84provides cloud computing resource allocation and management such thatrequired service levels are met. Service Level Agreement (SLA) planningand fulfillment 85 provide pre-arrangement for, and procurement of,cloud computing resources for which a future requirement is anticipatedin accordance with an SLA.

Workloads layer 90 provides examples of functionality for which thecloud computing environment may be utilized. Examples of workloads andfunctions which may be provided from this layer include: mapping andnavigation 91; software development and lifecycle management 92; virtualclassroom education delivery 93; data analytics processing 94;transaction processing 95; and server conversational context 96. Serverconversational context 96 may relate to analyzing user query statementsfor a context associated with the query statement, transmitting thequery request to one or more cognitive engines associated with thecontext, aggregating returned responses from the one or more cognitiveengines, and presenting the aggregated response to the user.

The descriptions of the various embodiments of the present inventionhave been presented for purposes of illustration, but are not intendedto be exhaustive or limited to the embodiments disclosed. Manymodifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skillin the art without departing from the scope of the describedembodiments. The terminology used herein was chosen to best explain theprinciples of the embodiments, the practical application or technicalimprovement over technologies found in the marketplace, or to enableothers of ordinary skill in the art to understand the embodimentsdisclosed herein.

What is claimed is:
 1. A processor-implemented method for determining aserver conversational state in an interactive dialog between a serverand an administrator, the method comprising: receiving, by a processor,a natural language query statement from a user through a chat interfacelaunched by a management interface; updating a context map to reflect acontext of the received natural language query statement, wherein thecontext is selected from a group consisting of a cognitive engine withinthe one or more co-located cognitive engines to route a question,aggregating a plurality of knowledge from a cognitive engine response,rerouting the cognitive engine response, and assigning a cognitiveengine within the one or more co-located cognitive engines toappropriately respond to a question, and wherein the context is selectedfrom a group consisting of an infrastructure context, one or more usecase categories, an entity context, an operation context, and asuccess/error context, and wherein the context is maintained in memoryin a JavaScript Object Notation format shared across each co-locatedcognitive engine; transmitting a request to one or more co-locatedcognitive engines capable of resolving the received natural languagequery statement, wherein the request is transmitted through anapplication programming interface as an extensible markup language file;processing the transmitted request in each of the one or more co-locatedcognitive engines, wherein processing the transmitted requestcognitively resolves the context; updating the context map with aresolution operation performed by the one or more co-located cognitiveengines, wherein updating the context map comprises reconstructing thecontext from the context map; and displaying a response to the user.